Director
of Technical Operations  Natalie
Gill
Responsible for determining the audio/visual and information
technology needs of the convention, acquiring the equipment to
meet those needs and ensuring the smooth operation of all audio/visual
and computer equipment at the convention

Eric
L. Watts
Founder & ChairmanSenior
Director of ProgrammingEric L. Watts has been active in Star Trek fandom for forty
years and is one of the most well-known Star Trek fans in the southeast. He
brings a wealth of convention-running experience, fan club management
and insider knowledge to the Treklanta con committee.

Mr. Watts started watching Star Trek in the early 1970s, attended
his first Star Trek convention in 1978 and founded a Star Trek
fan club, The United Federation of Trekkers, in Columbia, South Carolina,
in 1980. During his presidency, the UFT became the state's largest
Star Trek fan club with more than 100 members. He served
as president and newsletter editor for eight years and was frequently
interviewed by the local media during the heyday of the first four Star
Trek motion pictures, including an episode of PM Magazine in
1982.

In 1992, Mr. Watts joined Dragon*Con as a programming director to create
a new track of programming devoted exclusively to Star Trek. "TrekTrak"
debuted in 1993 and over the next 17 years became one of Dragon*Con's
largest, highest-profile and most widely acclaimed programming tracks. In
2002, Mayor Shirley Franklin proclaimed September 2 of that year as "TrekTrak
Day" in the City of Atlanta. His signature
event, the Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant, was one of America Online's
"Top 11 Most Offbeat Beauty Pageants" for two consecutive years and has
been featured in Shock, Spin, Discover, Maxim
and Bizarre magazines, on the syndicated TMZ television
program, and on the Fox News, Today Show and countless other web
sites.

In 2006, Mr. Watts was elected Commanding Officer of the USS
Republic NCC-1371, the STARFLEET International chapter
in Atlanta. The Republic had less than 10 members when he
was elected but by the end of 2009, the membership roster had grown to
more than 100 members and the Republic was the largest STARFLEET
chapter in the world. In 2007, Mr. Watts won the prestigious STARFLEET
International Commanding Officer of the Year Award and over the last ten
years, he has won more than twenty additional Region 2 awards in newsletter,
web site, member recruitment, mothership and administrative categories.
The Republic was featured on the front cover of the April
2010 issue of the STARFLEET International newsletter, The Communiqué,
in recognition of its extraordinary growth during the previous three years.

Mr. Watts was interviewed live on CNN Today on CNN International
in 2006, was featured in the Emmy
Award-winning documentary Four Days at Dragon*Con in 2010 and served
as a production assistant on the set of Star Trek: New Voyages
for the episode "World Enough and Time" starring George Takei in 2006. He
played Korgoth, the Klingon bartender, in the Project: Potemkin
vignettes "Closing Time" in 2013, "Ladies Night Out"
in 2014 and "Room Service" in 2015; and a dancing Klingon in
the "We
Are Klingon" music video on YouTube,
released in 2013. He also played an alien
and a Southern redneck in the unreleased Doctor Who: The Forgotten
Doctor episode "Ouroborus" and a nonspeaking Starfleet officer
in the upcoming Dreadnought Dominion episode "Technical Difficulties," a
Star Trek fan film, due
for release in 2019. As
a voice actor, Mr. Watts played a rebel Klingon
commander in the unreleased Star Trek: Valkyrie audio series episode
"Klingon Honor," the Vulcan police officer Agent Samar
in the first season of the Star Trek audio series Chronicle
and several unidentified roles in the upcoming Star Trek fan film,
The Romulan War, the latter two both due for release in 2019. He
is an occasional guest and frequent panelist at other fan conventions
around Atlanta, including TimeGate, OutlantaCon and Sci-Fi Summer Con,
and has been a featured guest on two podcasts, including two episodes
of Troy Bernier's Tribbles and Trilobites podcast, originally broadcast
on July
16 and July
24, 2016, and a special two-part episode of The
NerdBliss Podcast, originally broadcast on June
9 and June
16, 2017.

Mr. Watts is a two-time honors graduate of The Art Institute of Atlanta
with Associate in Arts degrees in Visual Communications and Web Site Design
& Administration. As a voice actor and vocalist, he recently
launched his own voice talent and entertainment business, Watts
Vox Creative Voice Talent & Vocal Entertainment.

Elisa
RoperDirector
of Convention Operations

Elisa Roper has been a science fiction fan since she was a child
and when she discovered Star Trek, was an instant Trekkie. Her
service to Star Trek fandom goes at least as far back as 2007,
when she joined the TrekTrak volunteer staff at Dragon*Con, which was
then under the direction of Treklanta founder and chairman Eric L. Watts. She
served as a volunteer for TrekTrak under Mr. Watts for three years, the
last year of which she served as Assistant Director. Mrs. Roper
continued to serve on the slightly renamed "Trek Track" volunteer
staff under the direction of Garrett Wang for one additional year.

In 2011, Mrs. Roper joined the Treklanta team in its first year, serving
as a staff volunteer on the Main Programming track, then as Room Captain
of that track for two years. She officially stepped down from
that position after the 2013 convention but has continued to serve the
convention as an unofficial volunteer, helping out when and where needed
in numerous departments, including Guest Services & Transportation
and Security.

Having such a long and distinguished record of volunteer service over
the course of the last eleven years and having learned so much about the
internal operations of running a convention, Mrs. Roper was a logical
and natural candidate for the positon of Director of Convention Operations,
which became available following the 2018 convention. With
her knowledge, experience and expertise in convention operations, Treklanta
is delighted to have Mrs. Roper on our team.

Mrs. Roper has been a member of the USS
Republic NCC-1371
since 2007 and, outside of fandom, develops and coordinates training and
exercise protocols for FEMA customers.

Natalie
GillDirector of Technical Operations

Natalie
Gill began watching reruns of the original Star Trek series
as a young child, coming home from school, turning on the TV and being
transported to another world in space. She was already hooked as
a Star Trek fan when The Next Generation premiered in 1987
and her first cosplay was a Next Generation command uniform when
she was around 13 years old. While The Next Generation
will always have a place in her heart, her favorite Star Trek series
is Deep Space Nine, because she got to know the characters and
had an emotional connection to them and their welfare. She
does not watch Star Trek: Discovery.

Mrs. Gill is well-known for her amazing cosplay in general and her Klingon
persona, "T'Aror," in particular. She credits John
Paladin, a professional makeup artist whom she met at another Star
Trek convention in 2016, with teaching her how to apply Klingon prosthetics
and for giving her the knowledge and confidence she needed to cosplay
as Klingon. She says, "It only took once to fall in love
with T'Aror. The minute my ridges go on, I become her. It
is so liberating to be so bold and brash! I go stomping around conventions
trying to start fights with Romulans and yelling at the vendor that has
the booth full of tribbles." In fact, she went on to compete
in the Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant at that year's Treklanta...
and not surprisingly, she won!

Mrs. Gill is the business manager of Starbase Atlanta, a sci-fi/geek/comic
e-commerce store in Lithonia. Because it's a small company, she
gets to wear many hats. Her daily job runs the gamut from accounting
and statistics to HR and customer service, assisting in the buying process,
handling fulfillment and photographing the inventory, just to name a few
of her responsibilities. She says, "I stay busy, but I love
it!" She is also the Director of Fulfillment for Axanar
Productions in Lawrenceville.

Mrs. Gill joined the Treklanta team as a volunteer for our Convention
Operations staff in 2016, then Technical Operations in 2017, and then
Guest Transportation & Services in 2018. We are delighted
that she has accepted the position of Director of Technical Operations
for 2019.

Kelly
HilliardDirector of Guest Transportation

Kelly Hilliard has been a Star Trek fan and member of STARFLEET
International (SFI) for more than thirty years and has served aboard the
USS Republic NCC-1371 in Atlanta for most of them, from 1988 to
2006 and again since 2013, including four years as Commanding Officer
(1992-96). From 2007 to 2012, he was a member of the USS Atlanta
NCC-79434, an offshoot chapter of the Republic. After six
years, the Atlanta and the Republic reunited as a single
ship. During Admiral Hilliard's three decades of SFI membership,
he has also served as Region 2 Zone 2 Coordinator (1992-94), Region 2
Vice Regional Coordinator (1995) and Region 2 Regional Coordinator (1995-99).
Additionally, he served as chairman of the SFI International Conference,
hosted by Dragon*Con, in 1995, then created the Region 2 Summit, for which
he served as chairman for the first five years, from 1996 through 2000. He
received the Region 2 Member of the Year award in 1994 and the USS Republic
Member of the Year award in 2014.

Outside of STARFLEET, Admiral Hilliard helped establish Starfleet Atlanta
and Trek Atlanta (networks of local fan clubs) in the early 1990s and
has served on panels at the Atlanta Fantasy Fair, Dixie-Trek, Dragon*Con
and Treklanta. He previously served Treklanta as a volunteer on
our Guest Transportation & Services staff in 2013 and Gaming staff in
2015. He returns to the Treklanta team as Director of Transportation
in 2019.

Dale
SimpsonDirector of Guest Services

Dale Simpson is no stranger to the Star Trek fan community,
having attending Dixie-Trek in the 1980s, DragonCon's Trek Track in the
2010s and most recently, working at Ares Studios with the Axanar Productions
team. He attended Treklanta in 2018 and felt right at home with
the wonderful fan atmosphere. Mr. Simpson also was a member of the
USS
Republic NCC-1371
in 1988-89 and, after a leave of absence punctuated by two children and
multiple trips overseas in several non-permissive environments, is back
as a member of the Republic once again.

Mr. Simpson has experience as an Operations planner in the military and
enjoys coordinating activities and events in the 82nd Airborne Division
Association and the Special Forces Association, having a Life Membership
in both organizations. He enjoys watching a plan come together and
is appreciative of the comraderie of science fiction and Star Trek
fans. His interests include travel, reading, movies and studying
historical events and locations.Mr.
Simpson joined Treklanta as Director
of Guest Services in
2019.

Vicki
GreveDirector of Security

Vicki Greve was 14 in 1966 when she first viewed Captain Kirk,
Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy on the original Star Trek TV series and
heard William Shatner utter, "Space... the final frontier. These
are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year
mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations,
to boldly go where no man has gone before." Since then, she has
enjoyed every incarnation of Star Trek that's been on regular television.
Her love of Star Trek led to other likes of most things space,
including NASA, and sci-fi, including Doctor Who, Battlestar
Galactica, Firefly and The Orville.

Mrs. Greve and her husband Gaylen enjoy attending conventions and have
volunteered at every Treklanta in its nine-year history. She's a
member of the USS
Republic NCC-1371,
the Klingon Assault Group (KAG), and is affiliated with the Klingon ship
Predator, where she holds the position of Medical Officer and was
recently given the honorific of vestai. Mrs. Greve has also
volunteered in the Brittrack at Dragon*Con and been on several panels.After
serving as a volunteer in Security for the last couple of years, Mrs.
Greve was appointed Director of Security in
2019.

Marc
B. LeeDirector of Main Programming
Track Operations

Marc B. Lee has 35 years of convention experience including international
show hosting, contract negotiations, convention organization and auctioneering.
He is one of the pro moderators for Atlanta's world-renowned Dragon
Con and has worked in the development and execution of events such as
Megacon, Tampa Bay Comic Con, Dallas Fan Expo, FedCon in Germany, Wizard
World, Star Wars Celebration, Star Trek's Platinum Anniversary
Convention in Seattle, James Doohan's final convention appearance event
and his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.

Mr. Lee has worked with or experienced all of the big-name shows and hopes
to make Treklanta and the folks who organze it one of his deeply respected
friends. He has a talent as a crowd-pleaser and has a personal relationship
with the majority of the Trek actors across the series. Knowing
that the average fan spends a lot of money to attend events such as Treklanta,
Mr. Lee's ultimate goal is to keep them smiling as they head out for their
homes.

Mr. Lee is also an ambassador for Celestis,
a company that provides final wishes to those wanting a sample of their
cremated remains launched into space. Astronaut Gordon Cooper,
Timothy Leary, James Doohan, Majel Barrett Roddenberry and Gene Roddenberry,
and numerous NASA scientists have
all launched on past missions, and more remains are due to be launched
into deep space next year.Mr.
Lee joined Treklanta as Director
of Main Programming Track Operations
in 2018 for the 2019 convention.

Chris
JonesDirector of Auxiliary Programming
Track Operations

Chris
Jones was born an "Air Force brat"
at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He
has been a Star Trek fan since the late '70s, having enjoyed both
the original series and the animated series as a kid in Warner Robins,
Georgia (living that Air Force family life). In celebration of his
love for Star Trek and other science fiction and fantasy stories,
Mr. Jones created The
NerdBliss Podcast in March 2017. The NerdBliss Podcast now
has over 100 episodes and is still going strong.
Mr. Jones joined
Treklanta as Director of Auxiliary
Programming Track Operations
in 2018. If you have any questions
or needs regarding Auxiliary Programming, please do not hesitate to reach
out to him!

Lee
JohnsonDirector of Region 2 Summit
ProgrammingLee Johnson is one the founding members and the first commanding
officer of the USS Appalachia, the northernmost chapter of STARFLEET
International in Georgia. As a lifelong Star Trek fan, Mr.
Johnson has been involved in conventions, summits and Star
Trek LARPing
for many years. As an artist, writer and teacher, he is very proud
to be running the Region 2 Summit Programming track as a member of the
Treklanta team.

Mr. Johnson joined
Treklanta as Director of Region
2 Summit Programming
in 2018 for the 2019 convention.

Mike
Henigan Charity Auction
Director

Mike Henigan has been a Star Trek and science fiction fan
since 1966 and a member of STARFLEET International (SFI) for over 30 years.
He has served as a charter member of several ships in Maine and
Georgia and on both Regional and SFI staffs. He has also served
on staff and as a panel speaker at science fiction and Star Trek
conventions in the East, South and Midwest and now serves as a Director
at WHOlanta, MomoCon, CONjuration, Treklanta and SphinxCon.

Admiral Henigan has served aboard the USS Republic NCC-1371 in
Atlanta twice over the course of the last twenty-five years, from 1995
to 2006 and again since 2013, including one year as Commanding Officer
(1998). From 2007 to 2012, he was the Commanding Officer of
the USS Atlanta NCC-79434, an offshoot chapter of the Republic. After
six years, the Atlanta and the Republic reunited as a single
ship and Admiral Henigan served as Executive Officer for the next four
years (2013-16). During that time, he also served as SFI Region
2 Shakedown Operations Director for many years. In 2013, he
received the USS Republic's prestigious Member of the Year award.

Admiral Henigan is passionate about working within the local community
and is a staff person at the Intown Food Pantry. He works there
most every Saturday and runs many food drives and auctions to raise both
food and funds for the pantry. The Intown Food Pantry is Treklanta's
designated charity for 2019.

Admiral Henigan previously served Treklanta as Gaming Room Director from
2011 to 2017 and is pleased to bring his passion for community service
to the convention as Charity Auction Director for 2019.

Dimitri
Walker Director of Artists Alley
Born and raised in Atlanta, Dimitri Walker is a simple artist at
heart. Brush, paint and canvas are his tools. He has been
a portrait artist since 1983, primarily graphite (pencil). In 1994,
Mr. Walker began to paint with oils and acrylics. He also took
a job picture framing to be near the art world. He continued to
learn and became a Master Certified Framer. In 2005, at 40 years
old, Mr. Walker went to college and earned a Bachelors of Fine Art. In
the spring of 2012, while teaching a drawing class at a local art gallery,
a student/friend who took his class to learn to draw the TARDIS better,
said to him, "Dimitri, I know you watch and love all the same shows
and movies I do. Supernatural, Star Trek, Doctor
Who, Star Wars, Firefly and all the comic book movies.
I have been to your web site. Why don't you have any Fan Art?"
Mr. Walker replied, "What's 'Fan Art'?"

And the rest is history.

Mr. Walker was a Guest Artist at Treklanta in 2015 and 2016 and joined
the convention as Director of Artists
Alley in 2017. Visit his web site
atPaintings
by Dimitri Walker.

Jenilee
TrewDirector of Gaming

Jenilee
Trew is a healthcare analyst in Atlanta with a passion for all things
science fiction. She is a member of the USS
Republic NCC-1371
and an avid gamer who has previously served as a gaming staff volunteer
at Treklanta. Ms. Trew joined Treklanta as Director of Gaming in
2018 for the 2019 convention.

Cindy
MacLeod Director
of Dealer Relations

Cindy MacLeod is one of three co-founders of AnachroCon,
the very successful alternate history (a.k.a. "steampunk") convention
launched in Atlanta in 2009, and currently serves as their Director of
Vendor Relations. She was also one of the creators of Dragon*Con's
Alternate History Track, and served as the Track Director from 2009 to
2011. Mrs. MacLeod's published works include one full-length novel,
Some
Unforeseen Event, and two steampunk-based short stories, "The
Big Golden Apple"
and "The Clockwork Cockroaches of Thelema,"published
in Dreams of Steam 2: Of Bolts and Brass and Dreams of Steam
4: Gizmos, respectively.

Mrs. MacLeod is an accomplished cosplayer with unparalleled taste in cosplay
fashion. She has fond memories of watching the original Star
Trek series on a black-and-white console TV in the late 1960s and
cosplaying Star Trek before she was even in kindergarten.

Mrs. MacLeod joined Treklanta as Director of Dealer Relations in 2017.

Mike
Brown Con Suite
Director

Born in the mountains of Tennessee, Mike Brown moved to Mississippi
at a young age. There, he found the first of many fantasy worlds
in the writings of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. These escapes
from the normalcy of life in southern Mississippi were a welcome part
of his education. More worlds were to follow, from Herbert’s Dune
series to The Wheel of Time and beyond. As far as a love
for science fiction, at the age of four, he became enamored with Automan
and The Greatest American Hero, followed closely by the cartoons
of Spider-Man and, of course, Star Wars. However,
it was not until high school that he was introduced to what would become
the tipping point in his education in science fiction: (the original)
Star Trek. This intrigued the young man, as he found the
reactions of normal people against the unknown as commentary on society.
Star Trek would continue to play an important aspect in Mr.
Brown’s
life going forward.

Currently, Mr. Brown is the commanding officer of the USS Neptune,
the chapter of STARFLEET International based in Biloxi, Mississippi, and
the bortaS Amar of the Imperial Klingon Forces and Klingon Assault
Group.

Mr. Brown joined Treklanta as Con Suite Director in 2018 for the 2019
convention.

Aaron-Michael
Hall Director
of Social Media & Press
Relations

Aaron-Michael Hall is an award-winning author who writes diverse
epic fantasy with an edge and science fantasy romance. Since August
2015, Ms.
Hall
has published six novels in her Nazil series through Xtabyren Publishing,
including The
Rise of Nazil, Seed of Scorn, Piercing the Darkness,
Rites of Heirdron, Orbs of Trenihgea and Kurintor Nyusi.
Her debut novel, The Rise of Nazil, earned a Readers’ Favorite
award in 2017.

Ms.
Hall
has always loved languages. That love seeped into the pages of the
Nazil series with the Mehlonii language. Along with complex, intriguing
characters, multilayered plots, new species, deities, and creatures, the
Mehlonii language adds that fantastical element missing from most modern
epic fantasy. You can listen to samples of the spoken Mehlonii language
on the website’s Mehlonii page.

Ms. Hall's next four novels, Tamesa, The Epic Fantasies Keepers
of Nine, Triplex Spires of Isabis and Blood of Oisin,
are coming soon.

Ms. Hall joined Treklanta as Director of Social Media & Press Relations
in 2018 for the 2019 convention.